Lauderdale To Settle Lawsuit

FORT LAUDERDALE — The harassment Donna McGarry suffered at the hands of another city employee was so bad, she told officials, she tried to kill herself.

City officials agreed unanimously Tuesday to settle McGarry's sexual harassment case, which includes two workers' compensation injuries, for $380,000.

McGarry's is the second lawsuit settlement involving accusations against former city parking employee Timothy Grayson. Grayson was fired last month for the third time, after the city accused him of sleeping on the job and getting in a scuffle with a citizen while on duty.

Five female co-workers filed complaints against Grayson during his tenure as a parking enforcer. Co-workers said he was lewd, made requests for oral sex and harassed them.

City records show that McGarry filed many complaints. She became depressed and attempted suicide, she wrote in one memo to the city.

"I find fighting with you to make you do the right thing after suffering from years of harassment to be very emotionally taxing," McGarry wrote to parking official Doug Gottshall in 1999. Gottshall, who is still the parking director, thought it was a "personality conflict."

"All of your complaints about Mr. Grayson have related to allegations that he thought you were lazy and unproductive," Gottshall wrote to McGarry at the time.

Another parking employee who complained about Grayson's behavior, Angela Testa, filed a sexual harassment lawsuit that the city settled for $70,000 in 1999.

McGarry and Testa were granted restraining orders to keep Grayson away from them. When McGarry reported that Grayson was violating the restraining order at work, Gottshall responded in a memo that "your apprehensions are not reasonable."

Yolanda Cowart, the city's former diversity manager, found that McGarry had been retaliated against for her complaints about Grayson.

McGarry's lawsuit was at least the eighth employee relations case to be settled by the city in the past five years.

The problems have caused the city's employee relations insurance bill to soar. The current policy will cost the city $820,000 before any coverage kicks in -- $320,000 for the policy and a $500,000 deductible.

The city's former insurance company will pay $282,500 of McGarry's settlement. City finance director Terry Sharp told commissioners in a memo that the city's legal exposure for all the issues could be more than $800,000.

Brittany Wallman can be contacted at bwallman@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4541.